Read Online When It All Comes Down to Dust (Phoenix Noir Book 3) by Barry Graham - Free Book Online Page A

kind of, because it was as big as a city, bigger than most cities. So big, so big, as he rode the bus through it he couldn’t tell where it used to end, and now it seemed like it might not ever have an end. But he didn’t think it could be a city, because he’d seen pictures of cities, and this didn’t look like a city at all. There were streets and streets and streets and streets, but no people on them, just empty sidewalks furious with sunshine, and roads crammed with vehicles, growling, urgent, trying to get past each other, not wanting to wait for anything. No stores or houses or bars, just strip malls and empty sidewalks under the sun and oh it was strange strange strange strange strange and he was here, he was free and oh thank you thank you thank you.
    The guy in charge at the halfway house had been in the military. “You know why they call this a halfway house?” he asked Frank.
    “Because it’s halfway from being in prison to being free.”
    “You’re half-right. It’s called a halfway house because it’s halfway to being a part of the community and halfway back to prison. Whichever way you choose to go is up to you. I hope you’ll make the right choice.”
    “I hope so too. I want to.” Frank wondered how many times the guy had delivered this recitation. He knew he should find the guy pompous and obnoxious, but he was so happy to be where he was that the feeling he had for him was stronger than fondness and just short of love.
    The guy must have picked up on that feeling, because even though he was revolted by the very idea of Frank, he found himself slapping him on the shoulder and saying, “Well, we’ll do all we can to support you. We want you to do well. I’m on your side – unless and until you mess up.”
    “Thank you.”
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    “M y God... Do you always eat this much?” said David.
    “Not if I’m paying for it,” said Laura.
    They were in Haiku, a sushi place in North Scottsdale, and Laura had just ordered for the third time.
    “I’m sincerely wishing I’d never written that article.”
    “That’s the idea.”
    “I should have offered to pay your rent instead of take you to dinner. It’d be cheaper.”
    Later, when the bill had come and David had paid it, Laura said, “You know that was the least you could have done, considering how hard it is to get a job when an article tells everybody the worst things you’ve ever done.”
    “Yeah, I know.” He took her hand, squeezed it. “Sorry.”
    “By the way, I got a job. I start on Monday.”
    He looked at her. She kept her face straight. Finally he said, “I have gazed upon the face of evil, and its name is Laura Ponto.”
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    D riving again, my God, driving again, and he remembered how to do it. Not like they say about riding a bike, it didn’t come back that easily, but, my God, it came back, it really did. First turn on the ignition and it comes on, nothing new he needed to do there, this car had been built even before he went to the joint. Just turn on the ignition, yeah, and it comes alive, and now put it in reverse, and is the gas the pedal on the right or the left? Oh, he couldn’t even remember, but yeah, he did remember, it was the one on the right, on the right, and when he pressed on it the car jumped, then pushed backwards, yeah, and then he put it in drive and then it all came back and he didn’t need to think about it as he rolled out of the lot and onto the street, he could still drive, oh my God it was so good.
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    D avid lay on Laura’s couch, petting Tubby Franklin. “I really want to get a cat,” he said.
    “Why don’t you?”
    “I’m hardly ever at home, I work so much. It wouldn’t be fair to leave a cat by itself for so long.”
    “You could always get two of them. Get a couple kittens from the pound, and they can keep each other company.”
    “Yeah, I never thought of that. I think I will.”
    “You should. They’re killing